$20.67 million in revenue expected for Tusc general fund

Tuesday

Jan 14, 2014 at 9:34 PM

The Tuscarawas County Budget Commission met Monday to certify the amount of revenue available for the fiscal year 2014 general fund. After reviewing sources of revenue including taxes and departmental fees, the budget commission certified the amount of $20,676,501 for available allocations.

The Tuscarawas County Budget Commission met Monday to certify the amount of revenue available for the fiscal year 2014 general fund.

After reviewing sources of revenue including taxes and departmental fees, the budget commission certified the amount of $20,676,501 for available allocations.

The general fund covers several county departments including commissioners, the sheriff's department, auditor, prosecutor, the courts, and Job and Family Services.

The carryover balance for the year is $3,309,563, bringing the total to $23,986,064.

Budget Commission members are: Larry Lindberg, the county auditor; Jeff Mamarella, the county treasurer; and Ryan Styer, the county prosecutor. Assistant Prosecutor Bob Stephenson filled in for Styer on Monday.

Lindberg said the department requests exceeded the estimated revenue by nearly $1.5 million, despite projected revenues expected to be up about $600,000. Total requests came to $22,136,931.

Lindberg said the biggest issue is that 2014 has an extra pay period. He said every 11 years, the county ends up with 27 instead of 26 pay periods, which will result in approximately $190,000 expense for the general fund.

Other than that expense, Lindberg said the majority of taxes will be similar. The majority of the county's revenue comes through general property tax real estate, permissive tax, also known as sales tax, local government taxes and casino revenues. Lindberg said all revenues are projected to be close to the gains made last year. In other areas, such as the clerk of courts, revenue is expected to decrease as there are fewer court cases, and fewer people are frequenting the recorder's office, leading to a decline there as well.

While the commission members reviewed the possibility that more revenue may come in, they remained more conservative after discussions with commissioners and other department heads.

"It's better to be conservative so we don't plan on spending money we may not get," Lindberg said.

That included the casino revenue, which Commissioners Kerry Metzger and Chris Abbuhl expected the estimate for casino revenue remain close to last year's income.

"The casinos haven't been out there long enough to get a historical perspective," Metzger said.

The commissioners are looking to compile a budget by the second week of February.

"We'll do the best we can do," Abbuhl said.

Abbuhl said commissioners plan to meet with department heads once a month to gauge how everything is going. He said there are a few projects that are mandatory for 2014 including transferring the mediation department to the courthouse and moving the law library, coming to about $150,000. He said the courthouse elevator will have to be repaired and certain upgrades for the sheriff's department will need to be approved.

In the meantime, Commissioner Belle Everett said she is hopeful that department heads can also look at ways to be frugal in their spending.

"We still have to look closely at our budget and, hopefully, other departments and other elected officials will make the adjustments so we're in the black," she said.

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